Day 2 started normally. Our plan was to start early from the permit office at Rongli (permit is required to travel via the old silk route) and go to Gangtok via the silk route hopping over Zuluk, Kupup and Nathu La. Everything was going fine – until it started to drizzle just after we left GNathang, which turned into a full blown blizzard! It is beyond our limited literary ability to write about what we witnessed and how we managed to get out – so we made a movie instead! Yes, the first movie out of Honuman Haveli Production house has hit the theatres people! Do be generous with your clicks – we want to see an avalanche of Likes! Here’s the poster!

Long story short – we got the scare of our lives when we finally managed to reach Kupup, slipping and sliding across the icy road, the guard refused to let us pass. Despite all our pleadings, reasoning, showing that cars were capable, the check post guard was stoic –

Kupup did not have good enough homestays, so we had no option but to turn back burying our dreams of Nathu La and getting a quick route to Gangtok. We did finally manage to reach Gangtok as we had pre-booked hotels 😦 but the journey back was one of the scariest yet thrilling drives we had ever experienced. We are actually thankful to our friendly check post guard (henceforth we will call him Gandalf) – few people have had the chance to see the famous Zuluk loops dry and covered in snow within a couple of hours!